AIBU to think airline seats no longer fit average-sized adults?

How can airlines squeeze more seats in widthways? They all use one of two or three planes which are the same width - I can’t think of any short haul which does anything other than three seats on both sides.

I’m 5 foot 7 and normal weight but my god is Ryan air uncomfortable 😣. It’s not necessarily the width it’s the lack of padding in the seats 😫 one of my bum cheeks hurt for about 3 days after ! I’m not doing it again would rather pay a bit more.

have another think about this. You pay for your flight & seat before flying. If you didn’t pay for your seat then its allocated before check in.

how you suggesting this would work. 300 people being weighed, then half the people who got weighed have to be found bigger seats, pay extra money. Then the other half get their seats allocated.

no flight would take off on time.

fat people are entitled to fly & enjoy a normal life without weirdos like you judging them and asking them to be treated in such a degrading inhumane way

I went prem economy to Mexico & lucky had an empty set next to me so plenty of room,

been to other Caribbean isles and never had an issue fitting in seats, one trip the couple sat next to me were really overweight, but other than the woman pressing against my leg most the time it wasn’t uncomfortable. Now had it been a ryanair flight!!!

Flying is no longer a comfortable experience, on the other hand I would like it to be as cheap as possible so I am not sure what the airlines can do really. I do draw the line at eating revolting airline food but otherwise I mentally prepare myself for feeling like a heifer being transported to market and look forward to arriving on my holiday.

I’m 5’9” with broad shoulders and completely understand what you mean. I end up sitting a bit lopsided.
Maybe we should turn the table on all the people mistakenly trying to ‘fat-shame’ by asking if they’re represent the ‘skinny shoulder brigade’ 😉

Overweight is not “normal size” though. My husband is 6”2 but healthy weight and can fit in seats fine. He does get uncomfortable with his legs so books seats that have more room if he can but he can still fit in the actual seat fine. I’m only 5”5 so it’s clearly more comfortable for me who needs less leg room. He never encroaches onto other peoples seats?

We fly several times a year with various budget airlines and all of my family fit fine. I'm average height and build as is my daughter. My son and husband are both 6 foot and average weight with long legs. Seats are definitely wide enough to accommodate people generally, although my son's legs are about to become more uncomfortable if they get longer!

I blame Uber Eats

I prefer a window seat for this reason - I can lean across into the window area. I was in agony by the time I got off my last Jet2 flight but I didn't notice their seats being worse than anyone else's. We were delayed by about an hour on the tarmac and it was a 4 hour flight and we had spent 3 hours queuing in the airport so I assumed it was the combination.

That does seem small. The average British man is 5'9" and a healthy weight for a man that height is up to 169 lbs.

One of the reasons we fly out of season is so we can try and get a whole row to ourselves (or a row each if we’re lucky) It’s not guaranteed but going off season definitely increases the chances. We’re just average sized and still find the seats a little squeezy, more so my 6’ 3’’ husband!

Essentially none of them. The most common seats on short haul airlines are made by Recaro, Collins and Safran. Recaro seats are the most common across European airlines I'd hazard a guess, they're shit. So are the others granted, the Recaro seats just aren't built as well. They're all similar size, and have actually got bigger in recent years with recaros latest seat having more legroom than previous generations (because the padding on the back is now like an ironing board). Basically, all airlines have very similar seating in economy.

The obese man should have booked two seats for himself. So he's not spilling over onto someone else's personal space.

Book a more expensive seat with another airline, said the short fat flyer.

I don’t think seats are going to get bigger. That would mean fewer seats on an airplane and the costs would go up. Most people want cheap travel.

Absolutely agree. I remember being charged excess baggage once on a flight to Germany for the sake of 5kg. I was a
petite student, less than 50kg in weight. In the queue for check in was a huge group of enormous men - they must have easily weighed twice, if not three times, what I did. And yet, I was charged for the ‘extra’ weight I brought on board! Madness!

Quite a few years back they seemed to make seats a bit narrower to get more passengers in. Middle seats are always really tight you aim to get an aisle seat or a window seat. And people have got bigger, as even you say the people around you were fat or borderline fat and you are not slim.

We flew jet2 a few weeks ago - DH, myself and our 2 children. Both ways we were allocated 3 on one side and then aisle on other. As soon as we got near our seat both times I clocked a large manspreader on aisle next to the single seat and asked DH to sit there whilst I sat on other side with our children. I just wasn't comfortable with an unknown male spreading onto my seat for 4+ hours. I also find they are more likely to spread with a women next to them than a man.

DH and I are both tall and average size and legroom was OK, seat width was slightly narrow, but not too bad.